Trapped in a dank subterranean world, two restless siblings are surrounded by the stuff of childhood nightmare: a grimy aquarium, a dusty piano, and a glowing, semi-animate surveillance apparatus. Under the watchful gaze of an amphibian captor—performed by songstress Ofélie Crispin—they and four acrobatic performers tumble and climb through their dingy digs with astonishing control. Beautifully blurring the silly and the sublime, La grenouille avait raison (The Toad Knew) is an ode to familial love that could only have sprung from the sublimely wicked imagination of James Thierrée (Tabac Rouge, 2015 Next Wave; Raoul, 2010 Next Wave).

PROGRAM NOTES

Set design and original music by James Thierrée Sound design by Thomas Delot Lighting design by Alex Hardellet & James Thierrée Costume design by Pascaline Chavanne Puppets by Victoria Thierrée

In spite of his impossibly illustrious pedigree—having Charlie Chaplin as his grandfather and Eugene O’Neill as his great grand-father—the French auteur has carved a powerfully original vision of his own making, creating a body of work centered around phantasmagorically visual and physical spectacles that have been widely seen around the world